No official RAG week will be held this year, due to the stigma associated with such weeks on campus, Welfare Officer Lorna Finnegan confirmed.
Finnegan said the controversial week wouldn’t be held during an interview with The College View on how much of their €10,000 target was raised last semester for their chosen charities.
She told The College View the week was “so associated with drinking that we kind of want to steer away from that”.
Instead, plans for raising money this semester include a mock wedding, scheduled for March 5th. Finnegan hopes to get students involved and said there would be events in the run-up, making it an unofficial RAG week.
Tea and coffee mornings and small-scale events such as outdoor cinema screenings will also be held throughout semester.
To date, €5,000 has been raised through a number of events and initiatives run last semester, including ‘Father Ted week’, the 24 hour sleep-out and Halloween trick-or-treating.
Over €1,000 worth of funds raised came from the sale of student discount cards in Freshers’ Week, which were a shared effort between DCU and St. Patrick’s College students’ unions. Both contacted local businesses, including IMC Cinemas and Wagamama, and arranged for students to receive discounts once they presented the card, which sold for €2 each.
All funds raised by the SU this year will go to their three designated charities for 2014: Smiles for Shauna, HeadstARTS and the CARI Foundation.
Janine Kavanagh
Image Credit: Fiona Hughes
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